so who's commuting in the snow?

Cafewanda

Rub it in mate. Why don't you :P

Kieran_Burns

Judging by the reports for the weekend, I need to get my shopping done early Saturday and hibernate after that.

So instead I'll take me and my camera out for a spin and see what the country lanes are like when it's snowing heavily. 8)

meanredspider

4-5" of snow back at home (that'll be 4-5" of "Light Snow" that the BBC forecast :roll: ). None down here in Glasgow.

SimonAH

Fanfrickingtastic run in this morning through the snow, glorious sunrise and very few cars. Had a nice chat with an MTBer on the way in, and then whizzed off (he was running rather too slowly for me and his big 'ol tyres were hurling up lumps of stuff).

Oo it were nice. Looking forwards to a blast at lunchtime.

shedhead

Very icy riding in this morning, about 4 miles of my route is off road through a country house / park, bloody cold n dark at 6.30am !!! riding my fixie all winter.

MTFU !!!!!

hatbeard

there was ice all over the roads this morning. didn't feel like I lost traction once though but can't tell if that's attributable to the marathon winters or just because the ice wasn't that thick.

dhope

PT this morning as we have the work Xmas do this eve. Did look slippy last night coming back though at about 11.30ish, lots of little puddles that were icing over. Ideal for my slicks, of course :shock:

Clever Pun

snowed heavily on the way home last night, I'm wearing wraparounds and a peaked hat, how exactly was snow still getting in my eyes???

rjsterry

Weird. Wet and sleety last night, and getting colder, so was expecting an ice rink this morning. But somehow this morning, the roads are almost bone dry with a few small frozen puddles in the gutters. It must have been pretty windy last night to dry everything out in sub-zero temperatures.

meanredspider

rjsterry wrote:

It must have been pretty windy last night to dry everything out in sub-zero temperatures.

It must have got warmer I'd have said. If it had got colder, I'd have been very surprised if it had dried unless the RH% was very low to start with. Cooling air deposits water. Wind can only dry something if it isn't saturated already.

notsoblue

rjsterry wrote:

Weird. Wet and sleety last night, and getting colder, so was expecting an ice rink this morning. But somehow this morning, the roads are almost bone dry with a few small frozen puddles in the gutters. It must have been pretty windy last night to dry everything out in sub-zero temperatures.

Yesterday was pretty warm, it was a good 7 degrees colder this morning. And now theres a blizzard Its all sticking....will be an interesting ride home tonight!

Butterd2

Ok so who rode in to London this morning then? I thought it was a pretty pleasant ride, a little cold but nice. Looking out of the window now I'm wishing I'd worn more clothes and my glasses (or even better my snowboarding goggles) . Looks like it might be a hairy run home if this keeps up.

rjsterry

meanredspider wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

It must have been pretty windy last night to dry everything out in sub-zero temperatures.

It must have got warmer I'd have said. If it had got colder, I'd have been very surprised if it had dried unless the RH% was very low to start with. Cooling air deposits water. Wind can only dry something if it isn't saturated already.

That's quite some fluctuation in one night then. It was sleeting at 6pm, lots of standing water but no sleet at 8pm, then dry and frozen hard (the pea shingle in my garden had 'set' - all frozen together) by 6am.

Clever Pun

rjsterry wrote:

Weird. Wet and sleety last night, and getting colder, so was expecting an ice rink this morning. But somehow this morning, the roads are almost bone dry with a few small frozen puddles in the gutters. It must have been pretty windy last night to dry everything out in sub-zero temperatures.

on the CS3 near tower bridge there were some impressive ice puddles

hatbeard

Butterd2 wrote:

Ok so who rode in to London this morning then? I thought it was a pretty pleasant ride, a little cold but nice. Looking out of the window now I'm wishing I'd worn more clothes and my glasses (or even better my snowboarding goggles) . Looks like it might be a hairy run home if this keeps up.

tonight will be interesting but the roads should be ok as they'll be kept clear by traffic for the most part.

riding without glasses if it's still snowing this hard will be tough, I hit a mini blizzard similiar to how it is now outside bermondsey station on the way home the other week and i struggled to see where I was going and was having to dip my visor to try and keep it out of my eyes, meaning I could only see about 4 feet ahead of me unless i looked up again. wasn't fun at all.

dhope

hatbeard wrote:

Butterd2 wrote:

Ok so who rode in to London this morning then? I thought it was a pretty pleasant ride, a little cold but nice. Looking out of the window now I'm wishing I'd worn more clothes and my glasses (or even better my snowboarding goggles) . Looks like it might be a hairy run home if this keeps up.

tonight will be interesting but the roads should be ok as they'll be kept clear by traffic for the most part.

riding without glasses if it's still snowing this hard will be tough, I hit a mini blizzard similiar to how it is now outside bermondsey station on the way home the other week and i struggled to see where I was going and was having to dip my visor to try and keep it out of my eyes, meaning I could only see about 4 feet ahead of me unless i looked up again. wasn't fun at all.

On the up side, time to break out the new beardhat, Hatbeard?

hatbeard

dhope wrote:

hatbeard wrote:

Butterd2 wrote:

Ok so who rode in to London this morning then? I thought it was a pretty pleasant ride, a little cold but nice. Looking out of the window now I'm wishing I'd worn more clothes and my glasses (or even better my snowboarding goggles) . Looks like it might be a hairy run home if this keeps up.

tonight will be interesting but the roads should be ok as they'll be kept clear by traffic for the most part.

riding without glasses if it's still snowing this hard will be tough, I hit a mini blizzard similiar to how it is now outside bermondsey station on the way home the other week and i struggled to see where I was going and was having to dip my visor to try and keep it out of my eyes, meaning I could only see about 4 feet ahead of me unless i looked up again. wasn't fun at all.

On the up side, time to break out the new beardhat, Hatbeard?

this badboy you mean?



if I had it with me it would have been. I did try it on under my helmet last night and it's a comfy fit

SimonAH

hatbeard wrote:

Butterd2 wrote:

Ok so who rode in to London this morning then? I thought it was a pretty pleasant ride, a little cold but nice. Looking out of the window now I'm wishing I'd worn more clothes and my glasses (or even better my snowboarding goggles) . Looks like it might be a hairy run home if this keeps up.

tonight will be interesting but the roads should be ok as they'll be kept clear by traffic for the most part.

riding without glasses if it's still snowing this hard will be tough, I hit a mini blizzard similiar to how it is now outside bermondsey station on the way home the other week and i struggled to see where I was going and was having to dip my visor to try and keep it out of my eyes, meaning I could only see about 4 feet ahead of me unless i looked up again. wasn't fun at all.

I can't ride without glasses full stop (well at any speed anyway) my eyes water like a guest at the Barrymore residence. I've got a nice pair of yellow tint Zeckler wrap around safety glasses that are doing a great job since my faceplant back in August smashed my Oakleys.

roger_merriman

works drinkies last night so had to pick bike up at lunch time.

the shared paths are a bit much for the gearing (80inch) but hopefully will pack down, ice i can deal with on that bike but fresh snow can be too much.

emotionless_softcore

My bike, yesterday.

Cleaned the snow off saddle obviously but the bars were frozen solid.
I lost my gloves earlier that day; proper hand numbness ensued...turns out steering with elbows on ice is tricky! But possible!...
Who knew...

I am glad I took the same route home yesterday as I did this evening, as this

was pretty obvious then.
Today? Obstruction indicated only by a tiny couple of small tan coloured bits prutruding over a foot or snow..

I'd likely have attempted to plow straight through, could have gone bad.

Roads are so chilled at the moment though, the very start of my commute home

is usually filled with hectivity and motorists buzzing me at NSL.
Today was....Soviet Russia* (in simulacrum)

*In Soviet Russia, cyclist overtakes car!

wyadvd

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ru ... directlink

jeremyrundle

Amazing, all year round I am one of the only people I see in Tavistock on a bike except in summer when the emmits arrive, and yet yesterday, snow and ice and I meet four others :?

Mind you am I the only one who wears a helmet, had lights and was riding with snow tyres :!:

notsoblue

jeremyrundle wrote:

Mind you am I the only one who wears a helmet, had lights and was riding with snow tyres :!:

jeremyrundle

Thank you, teacher...............

iPete

Hi Mr. iPete,

The following items have been packed and are ready for despatch.

2 x Schwalbe Marathon Winter Performance Rigid MTB Tyre Black 26x1.75

YYEEEEEESSSSSS! 8)

Butterd2

Well the roads in SE London were very slippy this morning, I certainly felt the least comfortable on my bike since the snow began. The mixture of salt and slush must have been very close to freezing and felt like the road was covered in a thin film of slime.

I was riding very gently until about half way in when a guy on a blue fixed gear Dolan went past me. "Let him go I" I thought to myself but then he had to go and jump a Red so it was game on. Caught him up but he kept jumping Reds and I still wasn't happy enough to fully open the taps so lost him around Tower Bridge. Shame, he looked like a good rider on a nice bike, no need to RLJ, at least he made me MTFU and pick up the pace though.

As an aside I changed my front brake at the weekend from Avid Shorty canti's which I just could not get set up to some Cane Creek V's. The mismatch with my time trial levers means very little clearance on set up but boy are they powerful! I fear the first time I grab a handful in an emergency I'm just going to fire myself over the handlebars. Whilst nice to have proper brakes again the "anti-lock" nature of the Avids not working was probably more appropriate for current conditions.

dhope

+1 on slimy roads.
Too many bits of road had shiny patches up ahead that might or might not be ice. Pootled to be on the safe side (still not passed).
Think I've seen the guy on the Dolan a few times.

hatbeard

be extra careful on the approach to go around the bus lane on the corner of rotherhithe roundabout guys, there was some seriously bulbous ice blobs along there this morning and any further snow would hide them perfectly. hit some outside surrey quays last time it snowed and I still have no idea how I stayed upright, nasty nasty things.

asprilla

Had the Alfine serviced on Thursday and this morning it was a crock of crap. I actually had to stop in the park and spend 30 minutes trying to get it right. I improved things, but it's still not great.

Bloody cowboys.

squired

My route to work takes in a number of country lanes (with some steep hills), so I've ended up working from home today. On Friday last week it was pretty dodgy. I didn't appreciate what a good job my studded tyres were doing until I had to stop because a car had decided to drive on the wrong side of the road (i.e. straight at me). When I put my foot down I realised it was solid ice. After getting round the car (the driver didn't even acknowledge me or apologise) I carried on for a few hundred metres before losing my nerve (the ice was continuous) and walking for a minute or two.

On the way home I passed a car that had just been wrecked (more like obliterated). Having just spoken to a friend whose dad was in hospital from a car crash I decided that while I can trust myself I was too worried about a car losing control and hitting me. So, I jumped on the train.

Tomorrow I will cycle in, but I'm going to work out a route that involves as much main road and off-road as possible and as little country lane riding as I can get away with.